EIGHT VISIONS: VISCERAL VIEWS AT ATTLEBORO ARTS

Juried shows are what you make of them, whether you’re an artist, the sponsoring venue or the juror. They can provide a chance to reach a new audience, expand your portfolio, or find out which artists you’ve not previously been aware of who are making work that deserves your attention — and possibly a place in your collection.

The selection process for “8 Visions,” opening at the Attleboro Arts Museum on August 1, began during last December’s members’ exhibition at the museum, when juror Sarah Swift, gallery director at Hera Gallery in Wakefield, Rhode Island, reviewed portfolios from over 60 submitting artists.

“I am a sucker for texture and materiality, particularly in application,” said Swift, explaining her selection process. “I looked for artists whose use of material seemed not just thoughtful, but ‘necessary’ to the contextual completion of their piece. I also looked for artwork that carried a visceral weight to it. I have personally been most interested in work that touches on our humanistic relationships to both the man-made and the natural world. Many of these artists chosen are creating works that convey a sensory experience of color and light, material touch, and spatial relationships with everyday items.”

Swift selected 20 artists from the original group, whose works were then reviewed by Artscope publisher Kaveh Mojtabai and Galatea Fine Art director Hilary Tait Norod.

“This application pool included a range of mediums, narratives and styles,” Mojtabai said. “In selecting the work, I returned to criteria centered around classical foundations based on form, figure, structure, technique and intention. The selection also was based on fundamentals that would survive in a contemporary setting.”

“The overall quality of the 20 portfolios was greatly impressive,” Norod said. “I enjoyed reviewing such a wide range of materiality, thematic structures and the overall presentation of the works. After several rounds of viewing the work, I narrowed down the work for both aesthetic reasons and how strongly I felt the work elicited the thematics of their artist statements.”